i'd taken it before too, snow, with little to no observable effect. this stuff, however, has a HUGE number of cultures, and lots of other bacteria in addition to the acidophilus. it's pricey, and, like lots of remedies, i am not sure if it is really what is helping and what's just coincidence. my symptoms have always been come in spells (although this seems like the best and longest break between i can remember), and i've been really fortunate to not suffer from the excruciating pain and wasting that the disease tends to be associated with--although i've always been super skinny, it's not related to the uc. i'm also taking a blend of omega-3 fish oils and omega-6 evening primrose with hopes that it's good for my guts and the acne i've struggled with since i was 11 as well.

and...i know this thread doesn't get a lot of traffic, but i just want to wish everyone a happy new year! i, for one, am definitely looking forward to a fresh start, even if it's an arbitrary one.

i forgot this thread was here! despite alot of ppl haveing intestinal problems theres a total lack of good support groups for it, online or local. so hopefully...maybe....this thread can come to life. but i read through alot of the posts since i was last here.

enfermera, i just started taking acidophilis. i've taken it before with no noticable effect but i figure every little thing might help. and maby this time will be different. i've actually become a vitamin freak lately, just figuring, why not use all the help i can get? i take an antioxident pill, b-complex vit, iron and acidophilis. i was taking a multi-vit on top of it but i know there are some vits u excrete if u'r in excess and some keep building up in your body and may reach a toxic level, so i need to read up on what the hell i'm doing.

i've also started working out to hopefully jump start my metabolism and gain some weight. i bought some protein supplement so i won't burn up my muscles with all the work outs. i am totally gonna give it an honest try and see what happens. i've been doing alittle better i guess, good enough so i have energy to go to the gym. but on monday i have an appointment to see a new specialist, i want to look into remicade infusions.

I've cut out meat, gluten, and most dairy from my diet, and take papaya enzymes, but my stomach still bloats a lot, it's very annoying and frustrating. Is prilosec prescription only?

anna, i just remembered seeing you ask this about prilosec. it is available over the counter, and in generic form as well. i don't know that it would do much for bloating; it is known as a proton pump inhibitor--it suppresses your gi tract's production of acid. i work in a hospital, and it is practically a given that when a patient is admitted, his or her doctor will put him or her on prilosec, or one of its cousins-nexium, prevacid, etc. for the duration of their stay--prophylactically. their rationale is that supposedly the combination of new medications, new diets, and often the medical procedures themselves can cause people digestive distress, usually involving indigestion, heartburn, nausea, etc. this is why it occurred to me to try it with my antibiotic.

however, you do have to be a little careful. it is very easy to became dependent on these guys; once your body gets used to it's acid production being suppressed, when you stop suppressing artificially it it can go a little crazy and give you some reflux. i personally think it's over-prescribed and handled much too lightly by docs. if your body is producing the right and appropriate amount of acid to digest your food, why would you go tinkering with it? so when i took it, i took it with the intention of not taking more than a 2-week course. and really, if you read the package, that's how it's recommended, but some people are on it as chronic users.

so, in short, it's more of a patch-the-symptoms kind of deal, rather than a fix the problem thing. as most pharmaceuticals seem to be, i'm afraid. i hope this info helps you make the right decision for you, and i hope you get some relief from your bloating!

I've suffered from IBS for ages and ages and finally picked up this book which I have found really useful. After doing a poo diary (my terminology) and taking a set of quizzes you're directed to the chapter that deals with your specific issues, for me it turned out to be a combination of diarrhea and constipation (meaning matter backs up in my gut and sits until it bursts forth, literally. So I would have diarrhea at least 1-2 times a week mixed with pain as everything slowly worked it's way through my system, awesome.) so I had to clear out my intestines and now I'm taking linseed once a day with lots of water and that seems to be moving everything along at a much healthier rate. It's still early days, i've only been doing it 3 weeks, but i've noticed a marked improvement.

I've even made it through my period with considerably less intestinal distress. He reccomends taking B6 supplements as well if you are a lady and find that your symptoms worsen whilst you are bleeding. It's been really great to actually find something that works reliably. I've been through therapy to learn new ways to cope with stress and that helped some, but not enough, I've tried lots of medications, I've considered cutting my intestines out, and now a tbsp of linseeds a day seems to be helping out the most.

I don't think this works for all types of IBS but certainly if you're in a constipation / diarrhea cycle it may be worth a shot. I've noticed as well that my bloating has gone down considerably as well. Team linseed for the win.

I used to take probiotics, they didn't seem to help me too much. I just started taking Donnatal again, that was a big boost in helping my stomach feel better. I had seen a GI earlier this year, and don't have celiac disease, so it seems like a matter of not eating wheat/gluten much, little dairy, little meat, and have a healthy but spare diet.

I don't know about prilosec, but are you taking probiotics too? I find they make a big difference to how my tummy feels. There could be other things that are causing problems. I know that people who are sensitive to wheat often have sensitivity to eggs, pototoes, rice, corn, etc. It's so hard to figure out exactly what causes problems. I have a feeling I should be cutting out more foods but I'm still learning how to cook with some restrictions so it takes time.

nobody had an answer for me, but i thought i'd throw in an update just for posterity's sake, or for anyone else in the future with a similar situation: i don't know if the was the 2 weeks of prilosec, or the super-duper, "critical care," 50-billion culture probiotic, or a combination of the two, but something kicked my digestive system back into gear--before i was even done with the antibiotic. i'm not sure, but i think that this is the most consistently close to healthy it's been in a looooong time. i'm still taking a probiotic, although not quite as potent a one. hope this doesn't jinx things!

i was just wondering if i should be worried. first off a little about my background..my parents divorced after 24 yrs..during my first year of college, i was still living at home at the time..but since then my life and health has went crraazzyyy. i have been with 3 guys..KEEEp getting utis, bv twice, yeast from antibs. FINALLYY over all of that. got on anti depressants blah blah so to my question on sunday..it is now thursday i got this really dizzy feeling and went to the doctor yesterday. slept all day mon and tues. but not until yesterday did my muscles become soo sore. everything is improving except my stomach muscles. i am bloated, gurgling, and constipated. could this be because im not eating right??bc im def not since i moved to college...should i be really worried..i get regular then i stop up again..this past thursday i had very bad diarrhea but i think it was related to my drainage..IDK heeeellppp! sorry this is so long..

so i thought i'd jump in the deep end and get personal really fast! here's my back story: i was diagnosed with a relatively mild case of ulcerative colitis in 2002; i suspect it was related to a couple of courses of accutane i took as a teenager, but who really knows? i saw a gastroenterologist for a couple of years, and ended up on a fairly high dose of imuran, with, of course, wretched prednisone for flare-ups--in spite of the mildness of my case, none of the less scary meds did anything. this seemed to help somewhat, but i was still having symptoms and occasional flare-ups. in 2005 i moved to va, and when i ran out of imuran i stopped taking it. i was really bothered by the idea of suppressing my entire immune system, especially as a nurse, and lo and behold, it really didn't seem to make much difference when i stopped. i've been managing the uc since then with diet, and not having too much trouble. (i'm a little ashamed to admit it, but i never did find another GI doc.)

on monday i developed a very sore throat and fever. the doc i saw in urgent care on tuesday pronounced it a throat infection similar to strep, and has put me on keflex three times a day. it has helped greatly, but is aggravating the hell out of my gut. it's only a week's worth, so i expect i can tough it out, but it makes me a little nervous; i'm not having a lot of discomfort, but am passing a lot of bloody diarrhea (the hallmark of uc). i've bought some otc prilosec, and just started on a probiotic, but i'm a little unsure of how to take it. i took the first one four hours after my dose of keflex, but i don't know if i should take it in between each dose, or just once a day? sometimes i hear that taking an antibiotic will negate any benefit from the probiotics anyway--which makes sense. does anyone have experience managing their gut problems while on antibiotics?

I really just need to rant today. I've been tested twice for celiac disease now, but I recently found out that recent studies suggest you need to eat at least 3 pieces of bread a day for THREE MONTHS to get an accurate test result. The last time I only did it for 3 weeks. I don't have any desire to go back to eating gluten. I've been gluten free for a month and most of my symptoms seem to match up with a lot of people on celiac.com. So for now I'm planning to continue eating gluten free for at least 6 months, or possibly longer.

TMI details to follow.

I've had diarrhea at least 3 times a day for 6 months. I'm so sick of this. My stomach doesn't really bother me pain wise, it's just annoying. I'm trying to eat little to no dairy, and doing most of my own cooking, but it seems like no matter what I eat, it just keeps happening. I'm taking probiotics 3 times a day but they don't seem to be doing much.

One of the reasons I really don't want to go back to eating bread for the test, is that the last 3 times I've tried to do that I get horrible horrible yeast infections. Overall I feel healthier not eating the bread and I'm still getting plenty of carbs but I've also dropped a fair amount of weight.

At this point I'm planning to make another appointment with my GP, tell her I'm going to continue gluten free for now, but I want an allergy test and a referral to a GI. My situation seems to be very similar to a lot of celiac or gluten intolerant folks, including feeling worse once going gluten free, and not noticing any improvement for up to 6 months, and foods I could previously eat are now causing issues.

Lastly, I recently found out that you can get sorbitol poisoning from eating too much gum. Studies have shown it can cause IBS. From about Dec-Aug of this year I was chewing 1-2 packs a day (keeps me from snacking) but that's more than enough to cause damage (12-20 pieces a day has been linked to serious IBS symptoms). Sorbitol is also used as a laxative. I'm really angry that no one ever told me this and there's no warning on the packages. Two days after I stopped chewing it a lot of my gassy, bloated issues that I've had for 10 years went away but the D didn't.

I am by no means an expert on the subject, but i would avoid processed & convenience foods. as angie said, wheat & dairy can cause digestive stress. soy and corn are also common items in processed foods that can cause digestive problems. i would really recommend making food at home as much as possible and seeing what seems to trigger you problems. Processed/ready to eat foods all seem to contain mulitple items that are common causes of allergens & intolerences & make it difficult to trace a problem to a single source.

sassy, I've read a little on IBS and I think it depends on the type and severity of your problems. From what I know, there are 2 really big factors in IBS, and that's 1) wheat and dairy products and 2) stress. There are millions of books on the subject, and a lot of people I know have at least reduced their problems by themselves. One thing I know for sure is that when I ate my mom's cooking, I never had stomach problems, but as soon as junk food, fast food, and spicy stuff became a more regular part of my diet, having a bloated stomach became a regular part of my life.

I have been doing "doubleheaders" going twice in the morning, its almost too regular. May be what I am eating but its not that much. It is bothering and inconveniencing at the same time. Feels like output is greatly exceeding input.

i hope this thread comes back to life. i'm having a really hard time gaining weight. i have ulcerative colitis. last night i hardly got any sleep b/c i was up every hour running to the bathroom my appetite really sucks, i hate food and i just want to gain some weight.

wow, all the past posts bring back sooo many memories. i've had the "works" done, as someone put it. colon removed, ostomy and then put back together. now i'm all internal but have many shits a day. it's worth it, seriously, ostomies are disgusting. back when they were diagnosing me they thought i had allergies to everything, so i know what it's like only eat at home. now my doctor is pretty sure i have crohn's/colitis, b/c the inflamation never goes away in my intestine. anyone else have a story? i need some comraderie!

and if anyone has advice about hemroids i'm all ears b/c my bf is having an issue there. and to imagine he was embarrassed to tell me, i've been through the ringer with digestive issues. i gave him some prep-h and vicodin(luckily i have everything on hand one could ever need, lol.) should he be drinking more water? shit, i should probably just look it up in a book.

Hello ladies! I have so many question for those of you dealing with hemmroids, rectal fissures (i think that's how you spell it) and GERD. I just recently went to the doctor after months of blood in the stool and he told me I had a hemmroid and rectal fissure. The doctor gave me nitroglycerine ointment to apply but I'm not exactly sure how I should be applying this. You're not suppose to touch the ointment and the direction on the prescription say to put it on this special paper and then apply it on the area but I can't walk around with a piece of wax paper between my ass all day. Any suggestions?

well, a little after a week, and i am feeling much better! it was pretty bad for a while there, though. i thought i was going to cry...and eventually i ended up treated it with prep h, as well, which worked, though my body took it's time getting over this thing. i'm just trying not to do anything that's going to aggravate it or bring it back to how it was at the beginning.

now it will be all about prevention! which, really, should clear up some of the other bowel issues i have...

I had one yesterday. I just used some prep H, but my ass still hurts. I'm trying to drink more water to lose weight, and apparantly I was really constipated. Ugh. Are you feeling better? I still hurt today, but yesterday was horrible.